Freight container



Jan. 4, '1949. L n. sMrrH ErAL FREIGHT CONTAINER 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed layfl, 1945 IN VEN TOR 4, 1949. D sMlTH ErAL 2.457.841

FREIGHT CONTAINER lFiled lay 7, 1945 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 L. D. SMITH Erm. 2,457,841

Jan. 4, 1949.y

ranma: CONTAINER Filevd lay '7. 1945 'r'sneetssnget 4 *www '2% Jan. 4, 1949. L. D. SMITH Erm. 2,457,841

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Jan. 4, 1949. L D. SMITH Er Al.

FREIGHT CONTAINER sheets-sheet 4e Filed May 7, 1945 INVENITORS 'mf,

ZW f2 r Patented Jan. 4, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE R. Christiansen,

Sturgeon Bay, Wis.:

said

Steam and said Christiansen assignors to laid Smith; Alva Smith, administratrix of laid Leathem D. Smith, deceased Application May 7, 1945, Serial No. 592,376

(Cl. 22M-1.5)

claims. l

This invention relates to a container for carry.

ing merchandise direct from shipper to conslgnee irrespective of the mode of conveyance used. It is one of several inventions developed for the purpose of rendering practical such shipments, particularly when part of the trip is made by ship and barge.

Containers heretofore provided for such a purpose have, for the most part, been promoted for use on. railroads to compete with door-to-door service. provided by trucking companies. These railroad containers quite commonly have a right angle, parallelepiped shape with a length approximating the width of a railroad car, a somewhat narrower width, and a height equalling the height of a railroad car above the car floor or sometimes half this height so that one container may be stacked upon another. While such containers have served their purpose for railroads, they have not been used in shipments by sea, primarily because ships have not been designed for rapidly handling such containers and because the containers have nnt been adapted to ships.

However, in recent years, stevedoring charges incurred in moving cargo at wharves have doubled and one Great Lakes steamship company reports claims for losses due to pilferage and damage by mishandling amounting to nine per cent of the gross hauling revenues. A shipping container having a uniform size and shape to promote fast handling by machinery instead of by manual labor and strong enough to be immune to pilfering may of itself cure both of the serious obstacles to economical handling of freight by ship.

The general object of this invention is to provide a container so designed that it may be used on railroad flat cars or on a truck with a minimum of space wastage, and at the same time one that may be stowed with equal economy of space in a ship hold. The specifications of railroad clearances and ship hold clearances that the container must meet are these. The height above a rail road flat car floor available for loading is approximately 11 feet. The width of a ilat car is approximately nine feet and its length varies from 40 to 60 feet. The holds of a conventional ship of the size applicants seek to use for containers frequently comprise a lower hold having a height between the tank top or cargo oor and the beams supporting the ilrst between deck of some 13to 14 means of preventing lateral and tilting movement feet, while the distance from a between deck to 2 upon whether it is desired to load one on top of another on a railroad atcar or to meet hold height requirements.

For, more extensive general remarksy on container ships, see the introductory portion of our copending application, Serial No. 586,521, now Patent No. 2,440,307.

Existing equipment for handling this type of container is of two general sorts. The rst type moves the container about' by hooking to it from y.

above, as for example, a ship boom, a bridge mounted travel crane, and the like. 'I'he containers have eyelets along their upper edges to facilitate their being fastened to the hook of such cranes. In places where cranes are not available,

or where a crane cannot be used, as under decks of the container when resting on a lower contain.- er, while at the same time, providing a space between the bottom of the upper container and the top of the lower container into which the lifting arms of a fork type tractor may be inserted. In the earliest embodiment of the container which is described first, xed legs which may be seated in complementary sockets in the top of a similar container are employed. and in order to provide an opening between the bottom of a superposed container and the top of a container upon which it is resting into which the lifting arms of a fork type tractor .may be inserted, a supporting rail is positioned along the two opposite outside bottom edges of the container. By this construction, the weight of the container rests not upon the legs, but upon these supporting rails. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, however, the seating sockets are shallower than the height of the legs so that when the legs seat in the sockets. they will support the bottom of a superposed container above the top of the lower container.

Another object of this invention is to provide flexibility in the over-al1 height that one container or several containers may occupy. In the earlier embodiments of the container first described, this is enected by depressing the holding means for the container legs below whatever surfammi face the container is to rest on. Thus in the case of a railroad ilatcar, the holding means are depressed along the side edges of the car below the door level. In the case of a hold bottom. openings may be cut in the oor' to receive the containerlegs. In-a preferred embodiment of the invention, applicantsv have provided a foldingv leg which will support the'container at either of two heights. This foldingleg is so designed that it will seat in the leg sockets regardless of its position. Y

Another object of this invention is to provide a knockdown container that is sturdy and which `nevertheless possesses the stacking features of applicants rigid container. Two knockdown containers are disclosed in this application. i The ilrst described embodiment comprises a rigid bottom upon which is mounted side walls that may be folded over onto the bottom. AThe top of the side walls carry the leg sockets. and means are provided in the top of the container when knocked down for holding the legs of a superposed knocked down container. Applicants prefer-red embodiment of a knockdown container comprises a rigid bottomand a rigid top spaced by removable side panels which are so related in size to each other and the top member that when the top member is seated directly on the bottom member, the side panels may be placed therebetween.

Another object of this invention is to provide legs and leg sockets which despite inexact positioning of a leg above a socket will nevertheless result in an exact seating of the leg in the socket. In the rapid handling of containers. whether by hoisting means or floor operated tractors. much time would be consumed in exactly positioning them in whatever is to support them. A feature of this invention is to provide both the sockets and the legs with tapering or guide walls so that if they arevaligned suficiently well so that the bottom of the leg enters the large end of the socket. further lowering will seat them tightly A preferred form of the invention last developed by the applicants possesses several features peculiar to itself. In erected condition, iizssideandV end walls are solid panels, whereas in the first described knockdowncontainer. the

end walls are spaced bars which do not adetainer in any part of the container ship hold. Floor type tractors for moving the containers about the hold are therefore unnecessary and special construction of the hold tank top in order to putin depressed sockets can be avoided. Similarly, it may be found desirable to provide such container holders at spots on the hatch deck of a ship to hold the containers temporarily during, a load shifting operation at sea.

These and such other objects vas may hereinafter appear are attained by the embodiments of the invention shown in the drawings comprising seven sheets wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of applicants rigid container: Y

Figure 2 is a. holding means that may be bolted with similar holding means to a ship deck or to a railroad car bottom for supporting a container Figure 3 is a perspective view of a ship hold illustrating the notched rail framework used to support applicants containers and square holes in a` deck floor to receive the legs of applicants containers;

Figure 4 is a view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3 and illustrates the advantage obtained by the leg construction shown in perspective in Figure 5;

Figure 6. is a holding means for this leg lconstruction which may be attached to a deck or railroad car oor;

' Figure 'I is a perspective view of a railroad flat car having holding means depressed below the level of the car ioor;

Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a knockdown container of the type shown in applicants' copending application Serial No. 532,240, now Patent No. 2,440,306, to which has been added the leg sockets;

Figure 9 is an end elevational view of the container shown in Figure 8;

' Figure 10 is an elevational view showing the container in knocked down condition;

Figureliisaviewtakenon the line Ii-ii of Figure 1;

Figures 12 through 22 show a preferred embodiment of a collapsible container and more particularly Figures 12 and 13 are side elevations ofthe container in erected and knockdown form:

Figures 14 and 15- are end views of the container in erected and knockdown form Figure 16 is a pian view partially cut away;

Figure 17 is a view taken on the line i'I-II of Figure 16;

Figure 18 is a view taken on the line Il-Iii of Figure 12;

Fi8l11'ei19 is a view taken on the line i9il of Figure 12;

cause it is contemplated that ultimately the eye- 4 lets will be engaged by automatically controlled hooks on a crane and it is therefore necessary that the exact position of the eyelets be maintained. 'I'hese eyelets have one wall so sloped that it cooperates with the socket to guide a leg into seating position. In this preferred form of knockdown container, the exact relationship of the various parts to each other are important.

Reference in this application will also be made to the ship hold beam construction wherein notched beams spaced from one another replace decks. Additionally. there will be illustrated leg sockets that may be mounted on flat surfaces where it is not practical to provide depressed sockets. .In another application, applicants discloseacontainershipinwhichallloadingcan bedonebyahoistthatcangetaboveanyoon- Figure 20 is a view taken on the line 20-20 of Figure 16;

Figure' 21 is an enlargement of the ball check in Figure 18; and

Figure 22 is a cross sectional view of one of the transverse members forming the container base.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, the numeral I0 identifies a container having a generally right angle, parallelepiped shape. The base member ii extends along the length of the container which is approximately the width of a railroad nat car. see Figure 7, while the base member i2 extends along the width of the container and is somewhat shorter lthan the length. The height of applicants' container is such that one may be stacked on top of the other when the legs of the upper container seat in holding means on the top of the lower container and when the legs of the lower container seat in depressed holding means on the railroad car floor.

At each lower corner of the container is a leg I3 comprising two vertical side walls I4 and Il at right angles to each other. Each of these side walls has a short depending straight wall portion I6 and I1 which are substantially parallel to the vertical sides of the container il. Extending downwardly at an angle to the edges II and I1 are the tapering or guide edges. I8 and I8 which terminate in the bottom edges 2l and 2l of the leg. The exact construction of the legs and the means for fastening the legs to the container are not material.

At each upper corner of the container is a leg socket generally identified by the numeral 22 and comprising seating shoulders 23 and 24 complementary to the walls I8 and Il of a container leg and seating shoulders 2l and 28, complementary to the walls I1 and i8 of a container leg. The walls 21 and 28 connecting the seating shoulders 23 and 25 do not intersect each other at a right angle as they would if they followed the dotted lines 28, but at an obtuse angle so that the point of intersection 88 is connected to the point of intersection 3| by an edge 32 which is sloping due to the sloping nature of the walls 21 and 28. The purpose of the sloping walls 21 and 28 is to assist the stacker in loading the containers one von top of the other. If the surfaces 21 and 28 were vertical so that they dened an edge along the dotted line 28, it would be exceedingly diiiicult for the stacker to seat one container on the other. Where, however, accuracy of positioning is determined at the lower or bottom end of the seat, the stacker may roughly position one container over another and rely upon the legs engaging the sloping walls 21 and 2l to exactly and tightly seat the container on the lower container.

It is contemplated that where such leg construction is used, blocks such as I! may be removably or xedly fastened in a deck floor. Such construction will be useful where containers may be lowered directly upon the holding means, as for example in a container ship having large hatches.

Large lifting eyes 35a are aillxed to the side walls of the container so that the supporting spacer members 64 of a superposed container may rest on the top edges of the lower container. These eyes may be sloped outwardly as illustrated inV Figure 1l to avoid contact with the spacer members as they move toward accurate registry with the top side walls of the lower container.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is illustrated a container ship of the type proposedby applicants wherein the huil is generally identified by the numeral 39. 'Ihe bottom plates 4l support a tank top or cargo bottom 4I, and as elsewhere explained, the construction at the ship sheers is such that large hatches 42 may be employed. In the hold generally identified by the numeral 4I. a series of regularly spaced beams 44 rest upon the tank top 4| and a deck of similarly spaced beams 45 is positioned at a point sufficiently far above the tank top so that two containersmay be stacked one upon the other. The beams in the deck 45 are spaced from each other so that the containers 46 when turned with their longv dimension parallel with the beam may be passed between the beams down into the lower part of the hold. These beams are especially constructed as described ln another application. but are characterised by spaced notches into which the legs of. a container will fit.

It is recognised that there could be mounted on these beams holding means such as illustrated in Figure 2, but the notches are simply made if they are cut out of a steel I beam or if they are formed by outwardly projecting auxiliary flanges on I beams. It is therefore desirable to be able to insert rapidly the legs of a container in these notches.

Referring now to Figure 4, it would be rather diillcult to insert the bottom end of legs such as 2l into a group of holding members such as 41 because the spacing of the outside walls of the respective slots only slightly exceeds the outside dimensions of the container in order to prevent the container from working during rolling at sea. Beating a container in a set of four holding means therefor, by means of a crane cable, might be too slow to be practical.

Applicants provide their containers with legs, each of which has a lead Il connected by four outwardly sloping walls as I2 and 53, see Figure 5, to short vertical walls as I4 and 55. The legs consist of a cube upon which is superimposed an inverted. truncated pyramid upon which is superimposed a parallelepiped. Referring again to Figure 4, it will be observed that all that is necessaryV is to get the lead Il any place within the notch 41 and let the container slowly downwardly so that the sloping walls. as l2^and Il. will ultimately cause the parallelepiped portion of the leg to seat in the notch. The container itself will rest its lower edge II of Figure 5, on the'upper edge of the beam I1 of Figure 4. Where there is a supporting beam I4. see Figure l, the height of the parallelepiped portion at the top of each leg (bounded by the walls I4 and 8l of Figure 5) will be proportionately increased because it is the outside side walls of this portion that prevent lateral movements of the container in the holding means.

Referring now to Figure 7, a construction for positioning applicants containers on a iiat surface is shown. The flat surface there illustrated is a railroad flat car Il having a somewhat narrow bed construction whereby there may be mounted along the side edges and still within width clearances of the railroad, outwardly faced C beams .i and 62 similar to those abutting the bulkhead in Figure 3 and identified by the numeral I8. Unlike the arrangement of the beam framework in Figure 3 wherein the notches of one beam face the notches of the other beam so that a container positioned in the notches has its width lower edges resting on the beams, in the railroad car. Figure 7, the C beams face away from each other so that the long lower sides of the containers rest on the bed of the car. It is desired that there be a space between the lower edge of the container and any iloor upon which it rests into which may be inserted the lifting arms of a fork tractor. This space is obtained by providing a spacer member 84, see Figure 1, adjacent the long side of the container. When this container is mounted on a flat car. an opening Ii which may be of any desired height, will be created between the bottom of the container and the top of the flat car. When the second container is mounted on the first, a similar opening 88 will be created. 'I'his same result follows where the deck of a shipis notched by rectangular holes into which the legs of the container are dropped, see a in Figure 3. In

either case, the container will be held clear of the oor so that the lifting lingers on the fork tractor may be inserted thereunder. and the I notches in the floor will be so small that they -movement of many types of tractors. If the loading arrangement does not contemplate the use of a tractor, the blocks may be superior to holes in the deck. which may be objectionable because the latter. may require additional reinforcing of the deck structure.

The depending supporting spacer members 64 upon which the containers rest when they are lying on a substantially ilat surface do not interfere in any way with the containers resting on their lower width edges when they are positioned so as to span beams such as those oi' the deck 45 in Figure 3.

It will -be appreciated that it may be desirable to put the spacer members 64 across the short dimension or width of the containers in order to permit the loading tractors to insert their ngers across the width of the container rather than along thelength, which latter arrangement may involve the raising of a weight too great for the heaviest loading tractor now available.

Referring now to the knockdown container illustrated in Figures 8, 9 and l0, the construction details of this container are substantially the same as those of the container disclosed in i the copending application. However, this knockdown container has leg sockets 10 in each of the upper corners so that these containers may be stacked one on top of the other in the same manner as the container illustrated in Figure 1. In order to collapse these containers, the upper portion 1| of Figure 8 is shortened, the lower portion 12 is lengthened by substantially the same distance that 13 is shortened so that, referring to Figure 10, when the right-hand wall 12 is folded down on the hinge 13, the wall 1|, when folded down, will rest on the socket 10 and hold the two walls 1| and 12 substantially parallel.

A further feature of these knockdown containers resides in means for stacking them while in collapsed condition. Referring to Figure 8, members 13 and 14 are recessed at 15 and 16, the necessary rigidity between these members 13 and 1l and the balance of the wall 1I being obtained by means of the plates 11 and 18. When the wall 1| is in the position shown in Figure 10, the legs.

such as 19 of the superimposed container will rest on the' surface 8| by virtue of the small I beam 82. It should be noted that the two legs in these two sockets 'l5 and 'I0 prevent movement of the superimposed container 80 in any direction and that consequently holding means for the free legs 83 are unnecessary. The removable battens 84 and 85 and the tensiony rods 86 and 81 may be removably held in the collapsed container by any suitable means.

Applicants knockdown containers are equipped with large holding eyelets 90 and 0| which are designed to cooperate with holding means capable of holding the containers in other than horizontal position. Attention is invited to .the fact that the eyelets 90 of Figure 8 and 35a of Figure 1 are fastened not only to the upper edge member of the container, but also to the vertical stay members such as 92 and.

the knockdown container disclosed in Figures 12 through 22. applicants utilize the space between the sockets at the top of the container to store the side panels when the container is in knocked down condition. This basic idea necessitates the cutting away oi' the end sides of the top member so that the long side panels of the container may be received therebetween and requires that the side panels have a height equal to or less than the distance between the sockets across the end dimension of the container.

More specifically, referring -to Figure 12, the numeral |00 generally identifies a base member. which, referring to Figures 16 and 17, comprises a plurality of c-shaped members as Ill. see `Flirure 22, excepting that the two outside members, as |02 are formed with a heavy channel member such as |03. Reinforcing gussets as |04 and |00 provide additional transverse strength. Along thelower end edges of the bottom member are upright channels such as |00, see Figures 17 and 14. The long sides of the bottom member |00' are closed by strips such as |05-A, see Figure 17, which extend above the top of the bottom member forming a flange |01. See also Figure 16. A strengthening bar |00 is fastened to the flange |01 on the inside surface.

'I'he top member of this knockdown container is a unitary structure and is characterized by four 0 leg sockets |08, H0 and III, the fourth leg socket Examining now the preferred embodiment of not being shown in any of the drawings, see Figures 16 and 12. These leg sockets are Joined to one another primarily by means oi' top side members ||2 and ||3 and top end members such as ||4 which are positioned perimetrically around a top ||6. The method of joining these various members together to form a top, or even forming .the entire top including the depending leg sockets from a single casting oi-,stamping is not important to this invention. Attention is invited, however, to the fact that the top side members such as l I3 are of a height equal to the height of the leg sockets whereas the top end members such as Ill, see Figure 14, join only the upper part of the sockets so that a space H5, suggested in Figure 14 and shown in Figure 15, results when the top member is seated upon the base member.

In order that the top member may be assembled wlth the base member, it is necessary that the assembling means on the base member be complemental to the assembling means on the lower part of the top member, and further, that these means be such that side and end panels may be positioned in between them and utilize them when the container is in erected position. The fastening means on the base and the top are all illustrated in Figure 17 where it is seen that the top end member H4 has interiorly mounted a compression clip ||1 having a guide edge H0. The top side member ||2 carries a horizontal reinforcing bead H9 carryingan internal reinforcing bar |20. 'I'he plan area of the top member is suillciently larger than that of the bottom member to permit the top side member ||2 and reinforcing bar |20 to seat externally of the flange |01 so that a bolt mounted in the opening |2| may be passed through the opening |22 to hold the top to the bottom when the side panels have been removed. The vertical alignment of the top side member Ill with respect to the channel |08 will be substantially the same. Referring to Figure 15, the reinforcing bars |20 and |20' and the upright flanges |01 and |01' are illustrated in dotted outline with bolts |23 and |20' holding the aumen members together. Referring to Figure 12, there are a plurality of these bolt holes along each side of the top member and of the bottom members in knockdown condition. Therefore, the top member is held to the bottom member by means of removable fasteners mounted along the two long sides of the two members.

In erected condition, applicants container consists of side panels |24and |22 and upper and lower end panels |22, |21, see Figure 14, and similar panels at the other end. not shown. Referring now to Figure 17, end panels, which have stamped into them reinforcing ribs |22 carry at their lower end externally thereof a reinforcing bar |21a and at their upper end a reinforcing .bar |28 inwardly positioned. By this reversal of positioning of the bars |21a and |22, the side panel |24 may be mounted on the outside of the flange |21 and on the inside of the bar |22 attached to the top. The side panels, however, are not reversible, that is the top may not be Placed downwardly for the reason that each side panel, referring to Figure 19, carries a heavy protective corner bead |22 which extends to the bottom of the side panel |24 but terminates short of the top of the side panel by a distance sumcient to permit the upper edge of the side panel to slip underneath the member II2, see the dotted line |22 in Figure 12.

The ends of the erected container are closed by upper and lower panels |22 and |21. In the case of these panels, referring to Figure 17, the reinforcing bars |22 and |2| are positioned on the inside of the panels while similar bars |22 and |22 are placed on the outside of the upper panel. Referring to Figure 14, the upper panel is out away at |24 so that it may t tightly against the inside wall of the leg socket holes. Holes are cutin the various edges of the panel members in such a way that they will properly register when the device is in erected condition and wing bolts may be used to hold it in assembled relationship.

The relationship of the top and the bottom in knocked down condition has been described. and referring to Figure 15. it will appear that the two side panels |24 and |24a are positioned in the space IIB. Between them may be placed the four end panels.

The leg socket disclosed in this preferred container is a steel stamping. The feature of this invention is to incorporate in this leg socket at a point such that it will not interfere with the positioning of a leg therein, a lifting means for the container. By this construction, the lifting means will not protrude beyond the over-all dimensions of the container in any direction. 'I'he lifting means or eyes bear the numerals |25a and |26a and extend outwardly from the top of the walls |21a and |22a of the leg socket so as to make an acute angle of about 30 degrees with the side wall of the container, see Figure 16. Referring to Figure 20, an eyelet |25a consists of a bar |29a having its upper horizontal end |2|ia passed through a slot |2|a in the wall |2`|a of a socket and welded thereto while the lower end is tapered at |32a and welded to the lower end of the wall |21a. Referring to Figures 20 and l2, the slope of the eyelet the leg of a superposed container.

This container is supported by foldable legs. In order to reduce the over-ali height of two of these containers, one mounted on the other, so that they may be shipped on a standard flat car, it is desirable to be able to reduce the height somewhat. Referring to Figures 14 and ,18, each Ilia assists in seating |22 through |22 are apertured to receive a pivot.

pin I 44. The side arms of the U-sliaped member I 24a together with the reinforcing members |22' and |22 are also apertured at |42, see Figure l2, while the supporting plates are doubly apertured at |42 and |42. A removable pin |42 will hold it lying in either lowered or folded position. The pin |42 has an annular groove |42 in which rid aball |42 urged againstthe surface of thegroove |42 by a spring |41, held in position by a screw |42. The ball is not lost when the pin is removed because the hole in which it seats, referring to Figure 21, is not drilled completely through so that a retaining wall |42 holds the ball within the member |22. The containers may bestacked with the legs in either extended or folded posi. tion. the short base seating in the sockets to Dre. vent lateral movement.

The advantages derived from the applicants containers herein illustrated are several. Firstly, the containers can be stacked one on top of the other in either erected or knocked down condition. In the preferred form, the solid side panels have shapes and peripheral holding means which enable them to be positioned between a rigid top and a rigid bottom either in an upright condition or in a ilat condition. so that the container may be knocked down. This same preferred form has eyelets depressed in the sockets so that they are protected by the general contours of the container. Moreover, these eyelets assist in seating a leg in a socket. Means for maintaining an opening beneath a container for the insertion of lifting arms of a fork type tractor consist in a preferred form in foldable legs, or sockets shallower than the legs, and in other embodiments in supporting channel members along two opposite bottom edges.

Having thus described our invention. what we claim as new and wish to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

l. A freight container comprising a body having top, bottom and side walls, legs depending from said body, upwardly open leg sockets permanently mounted in the upper part of said container each in vertical alignment with a depending leg for seating similar legs of another container, side walls on the leg sockets which cooperatively hold the legs of a superposed container from lateral movement in any direction, and a lifting eyelet mounted within the recess of each leg socket and adjacent to the side walls of said sockets.

2. A freight container comprising a body, legs depending from said body, a like plurality of upwardly open leg sockets permanently mounted in the upper part of saidcontainer each in vertical alignment with a depending leg, socket side walls on the container side of each socket complementary in shape to the corresponding inside walls of a container leg so as to prevent the leg of a superposed container from moving laterally inwardly of the container in any directiomand a lifting eyelet mounted within the recess of each leg socket and having a downwardly and outwardly sloping wall for guiding a container into a predetermined position in the bottom lof the socket.

3. A fabricated metal freight container coml l prising a body having a top, side walls, and a substantially iiat bottom, a plurality of legs pivotaliy depending from said body, a long support and a short support mounted on said leg and angularly spaced about the pivot. the bottom of each support being spaced from the pivot by a distance sufficient to hold the bottom of the container above a plane upon which either the short or the long support is resting, either support being in the same vertical line when in effective position, and a like plurality of upwardly open leg sockets mounted in the upper part of said container and each in vertical alignment with one of said legs for receiving either the long or the short support of similar legs, similarly arranged -of another container.

4. A fabricated metal freight container comprising a body having a parallelepiped shape, a leg socket disposed in each top corner of the body, a leg pivotaliy mounted on a shaft at each bottom corner of the container, and two bases on each leg radially spaced from each other around the shaft and each base being in vertical alignment with a leg socket thereabove when in effective position so that either base is seatable in such a socket, one base being substantially closer to the shaft than the other base, and both being so related to the shaft that when either is in lowered position it will space the bottom of the container from the plane upon which the legs are resting.

5. A fabricated metal freight container comprising a body having a right parallelepiped shape, an upwardly open leg socket disposed in each top corner of the container, a leg pivotaliy mounted on a shaft at each bottom corner of the container, the axis of all of the shafts being parallel to each other and the legs folding inwardly of the body of the container, and two bases on each leg radially spaced from each other around the shaft and each base being in vertical alignment with a leg socket thereabove when in effective position so that either base is seatable in such a socket, one base being substantially closer to the shaft than the other base, and both being related to the shaft so that when either-is in lowered position it will space the bottom of the container from the plane upon which the legs are resting.

6. A fabricated metal freight container having a right parallelepiped shape comprising a bottom, a leg depending from and pivotaliy mounted on a shaft mounted on each bottom corner, a long support and a short support angularly spaced from each other about the shaft, either support being in the same vertical line when in effective position, side panels mounted on the bottom. a top spanning the top edges of the side panels, a leg rest positioned in vertical alignment with each depending leg at each intersection of two side walls at a distance from the top of the container which is more distant from the top of the container than the distance between the short support and the shaft, and side walls extending from a portion of the periphery of each container les rest upwardly to the top of the container to define an open-sided leg socket.

'1. The freight container of claim 6 wherein the socket side walls extend inwardly of the container as well as upwardly so as to provide a guiding surface for a leg base and to provide an open inside top periphery of the socket which is substantially larger than the leg base.

8. A fabricated metal freight container made of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body. a deep leg socket having guide walls downwardly directed which form an upwardly open entrance disposed at each top corner of the container, said socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body, and a leg having a bottom in fixed lateral position depending from each bottom corner of the container, said leg bottom being in vertical alignment with the leg socket thereabove.

9. A fabricated metal freight container made of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body, a deep leg socket having guide walls downwardly directed which form an upwardly open entrance disposed at each top corner of the container, said socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body, a horizontal leg rest plate forming the bottom of each socket and fastened along its inside edge to the guide walls and along its outside edges to the side walls, and a leg having a bottom in fixed lateral position depending from each bottom corner of the container, said leg bottom being in vertical alignment with the leg rest plate thereabove.

10. A fabricated metal freight container made of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body, a deep, open-sided leg socket having guide walls downwardly directed which form an upwardly open entrance disposed at each top corner of the container, said socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body, and a leg having a bottom in fixed lateral position depending from each bottom corner of the container, said leg bottom being in vertical alignment with the leg 'socket thereabove.

ll. A fabricated metal freight container made of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body, a deep, open-sided leg socket having guide walls sloping downwardly and outwardly which form an upwardly open entrance disposed at each top corner of the container, said socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body. a horizontal leg rest plate forming the bottom of each socket and fastened along its inside edge to the guide walls of the socket and along its outside edges to the side walls, and a leg having a bottom in fixed lateral position depending from each bottom corner of the container, said leg bottom being in vertical alignment with the leg rest plate thereabove.

12. A fabricated metal freight container com- DriSing a right parallelepiped body formed of a sheet metal bottom, sides and top wall, a leg depending from each corner of the bottom, a horizontal cut in each side wall extending inwardly from each vertical corner of the container at a selected distance below the top to a point vertically inside the inside edge of the leg at the same corner. an upwardly directed cut in each side wall extending upwardly from the end of each horizontal cut to the top, a cut in the top wallat each corner connecting the two upper ends of the upwardly directed cuts in the side wall, the cuts in two adjacent side walls and top forming a leg socket seat in each top corner of the container,

and an integral leg socket fastened to all of the edges of said seat so that it is recessed into the enclosure' of the container, said leg socket unit consisting of a leg base plate having outer edges congruent with two horizontal cuts in the side plates and of upwardly directed walls fastened to the inside edges of the base plate and having upper edges congruent with the edge o1' the cutout portion in the top to which they are rigidly fastened.

13. A fabricated metal freight container comprising a right parallelepiped body formed of a sheet metal bottom, sides and top wall, a leg depending from each corner of the bottom, a horizontal cut in each side wall extending inwardly from each vertical corner of the container at a selected distance below the top to a point vertically inside the inside edge of the leg at the same corner, an upwardly directed cut in each side wall extending upwardly and inwardly at an angle from the end of each horizontal cut to the top, a cut in the top wall at each corner connecting the two upper ends of the upwardly directed cuts in the side wall, the cuts in two adjacent side walls and top forming a leg socket seat in each top corner of the container, and an integral leg socket fastened to all of the edges of said seat so that it is recessed into the enclosure of the container, said leg socket unit consisting of a leg base plate having outer edges congruent with two horizontal cuts in the side plates and of upwardly directed, sloping walls fastened to the inside edges of the base plate and having upper edges congruent with the edge of the cut-out portion in the top to which they are rigidly fastened.

14. A fabricated metal freight container made of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body, a plurality of deep, open-sided sockets having guide walls downwardly directed which form an upwardly open entrance, each socket being disposed along the intersection of at least one side wall and top wall of the container, and each socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body, and a like plurality of supports each having a bottom in xed lateral position and depending from the bottom of the container, each support bottom being in vertical alignment with a support socket thereabove.

15. A fabricated metal freight container made 14 of sheet metal top, bottom and side walls joined along their edges to form a right parallelepiped body, a plurality of deep, open-sided sockets having guide walls downwardly directed which form an upwardly open entrance, one socket disposed.

along the intersection of at least one side wall and top wall of the container, and another socket disposed along the intersection oi the side wall opposite said last mentioned side wall and top of the container. each socket being recessed within the inside planes of the intersecting side and top walls and extending downwardly into the space enclosed by the parallelepiped body, and a like plurality of supports each having a bottom in fixed lateral position and depending from the bottom of the container, each support bottom being in vertical alignment with a support socket thereabove.

LEATHEM D. SMITH.

RICHARD A. STEARN.

CARL R. CHRISTIANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 586,122 Gale July 13, 1897 926,230 Avery June 29, 1909 1,215,713 Ruggles Feb. 13, 1917 1,337,167 Trego Apr. 13, 1920 1,407,595 Smith Feb. 21. 1922 1,537,760 Gassett May 12, 1925 1,686,222 Adler Oct. 2, 1928 1,820,105 Woodrui! Aug. 25. 1931 1,830,998 Harbord Nov. 10, 1931 1,875,141 Powell Aug. 30, 1932 1,912,847 Klepel June 6, 1933 1,934,389 Ulsh Nov. 7, 1933 1,940,242 Burgess Dec. 19, 1933 2,053,969 Olds Sept. 8, 1936 2,070,346 Woodruff Feb. 9, 1937 2,086,747 Stetson July 13, 1937 2,290,715 Shanahan et al. July 21. 1942 2,399,499v Miller Apr, 30, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 16.136 Australia Jan. 31. 1935 735,168 France Apr. 13, 1932 

